San Diego Charity Scam Exposed: $600,000 Funneled To Hamas, DOJ Slams Terror Financing Plot
‘The generosity of the American people was twisted into ammunition for terror.’ This explosive quote from a senior DOJ official set social media ablaze as news broke that a California resident was charged with funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hamas. Once again, progressive California finds itself at the center of an international terror scandal-this time masterminded from sunny San Diego.
Federal prosecutors say Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, operated a fake Gaza charity out of his San Diego home, raising more than $600,000 and sending much of it to fuel Hamas’s war machine. In a case with far-reaching implications, the U.S. Justice Department is sending a warning shot: America is not a piggybank for international terrorism, and law enforcement is ready to crack down-hard. What started as an alleged online fundraising campaign for ‘humanitarian aid’ is now being exposed as a brazen plot to defraud patriotic Americans and support one of the world’s most infamous terrorist organizations.
The arrest comes just months after President Trump doubled down on anti-terror finance measures in his second term, vowing to end the exploitation of American goodwill by radical networks. Shocked Californians watched as Sabassi was paraded in front of federal magistrates, the charges echoing an alarming trend of so-called charities turning into terror-finance factories.
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Authorities aren’t mincing their words. Sabassi exploited the outrage and confusion following the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, which killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and triggered a Middle East firestorm, to solicit donations. Prosecutors allege Sabassi carefully marketed his phony nonprofit-‘Ikram – The Arab Charity Foundation Inc.’-preying on emotions and lies to rake in funds bound not for medicine or food, but for Hamas death squads.
‘The defendant exploited the barbaric acts of terror… to attract donors to his fraudulent humanitarian causes… [He] then funneled the money to Hamas to help finance that group’s terror and violence and to line his own pockets,’ blasted Assistant U.S. Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg as the charges were unsealed.
If convicted, Sabassi faces decades in prison. The case is being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York with support from federal agents in California. Investigators claim Sabassi sent funds directly to an identified Hamas member, with $116,000 transferred to Turkey and another $382,000 intended for conversion to cryptocurrency to skirt U.S. banking oversight. Some of the cash, authorities say, went straight to Sabassi’s own rent and credit cards-proving the only true humanitarian cause here was his personal bank account.
He is charged with five federal offenses: conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism, wire fraud, sanctions-evasion, money laundering, and making false statements. The maximum penalty: up to 20 years behind bars. The DOJ has kept Hamas on its foreign terror list since 1997, yet according to court records, Sabassi’s digital dirty work didn’t stop until his arrest this month.
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This blow to Hamas’s underground fundraising sheds light on a disturbing global pattern. Americans are waking up to the uncomfortable reality that terror-supporting NGOs and so-called charities are gaming the system not just overseas, but inside the U.S. heartland. FBI Counterterrorism Division Assistant Director Donald Holstead summarized the anger: “Sabassi claimed to be raising money for charity but was actually funding the terrorist organization Hamas and also lining his own pockets.” The message is clear-law enforcement is ratcheting up the pressure on these schemes with zero tolerance for ‘compassion’ used as cover for mass murder.
Recent Treasury Department action backs up this crackdown. In January 2026, the U.S. sanctioned several entities in Gaza, including Waed Society and Al Nur Society, both caught laundering charity funds back to Hamas. Federal officials say Sabassi’s case mirrors these foreign organizations: creative abuse of American compassion for political and financial gain on behalf of terrorist groups.
The FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force ‘will aggressively eradicate fundraisers financing terrorist organizations,’ said Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle Jr. ‘We cannot allow these wolves in sheep’s clothing to operate in our backyard.’
The DOJ is citing global cases for context. Just this April, a Dutch national was convicted of channeling nearly 8 million euros-around $8.5 million-through a sham charity to Hamas affiliates over 13 years. This isn’t a West Coast-only scandal; it’s a wake-up call echoing from San Diego to Amsterdam. Americans should be on high alert: your next good deed might just bankroll terror if you’re not vigilant.
Beneath the headlines, intelligence officials are uniting across agencies and borders. The $600,000 Sabassi funneled is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions Hamas has received through similar fake charities, as exposed by the Israel Defense Forces late last year when they uncovered another funder’s death and criminal web. The technology, legal maneuvers, and global cash flow working on behalf of jihadists is massive, but so is the resolve to stop it.
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The Sabassi case isn’t just a law enforcement victory-it’s a clarion call for Patriots everywhere. The left’s uncritical embrace of every ‘aid’ campaign and their push to defund the police and soften terror laws create loopholes that these radical fraudsters exploit. While California politicians tie themselves in knots over sanctuary policies and tax hikes, their state has become a proving ground for charity abuse on a criminal scale.
Sabassi’s alleged online campaigns drew donations nationwide-from faith-based communities, concerned students, and average Americans moved by carefully manufactured crisis imagery. Prosecutors revealed that as soon as the money poured in, it was hustled overseas, into crypto, or simply used to pad Sabassi’s living expenses. That should outrage everyone-left, right, or center.
‘If a single dollar raised for a hungry child goes to a terrorist’s bomb, every American is betrayed,’ tweeted a conservative pundit, echoing a growing backlash against ‘aid’ scams. Social feeds have since erupted with calls for stricter vetting and transparency-so far, only Republicans in Congress have answered with concrete reform bills.
This isn’t a new phenomenon: Hamas and its proxies have manipulated Western charitable systems for years. Just last November, reports confirmed Palestinian charities were secretly redirecting grants to arm terror cells. In the aftermath of every scandal, the American right asks the same question: where is the Democrat leadership? As the 2026 midterm elections approach, Republicans are ramping up pressure, pointing to the Trump administration’s expanded counter-terror finance task force and push for digital asset monitoring.
Now more than ever, donors are urged to double-check every appeal-and to support only vetted, domestic charities with ironclad transparency. As the battle against terror finance heats up both abroad and right here at home, America can’t afford to be naïve. Sabassi’s indictment is a warning: the heart might be generous, but it must also be smart-and tough on crime.
